El Paso soldier missing in action since Korean War identified, buried

The flag of POW/MIA (Prisoner of war/Missing in action), a symbol for those who didn't return from War overseas. (Official logo)

The department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced Wednesday that the remains of a Texas serviceman who has been missing in action since the Korean War have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Wednesday morning, 61 years after he was reported missing, Army Cpl. Edward M. Pedregon of El Paso was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. There was also a memorial service held in San Elizario on Oct 1.

The El Paso serviceman has been missing in action since 1950, when he and the Heavy Mortar Company of the 31st Regimental Combat Team – known as Task Force Faith – were overrun by Chinese forces near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. They were under heavy attack for several days, according to the Department of Defense, and were forced to withdraw. Enemy blockades overpowered them om Dec 2, and Pedregon was reported missing in action Nov 30.

After the Korean War, both sides of the conflict exchanged war prisoners, and no information indicated that Pedregon had been held as a war prisoner. He was declared dead in 1953.

A joint US/Korean People’s army team excavated several sites in the Chosin Reservoir area in 2004, and they recovered the remains of at least nine individuals, whose location corresponded to the positions temporarily held by elements of Task Force Faith in late November 1950.

Among forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used dental records, and mitochondrial DNA – which matched that of Pedregon’s mother and brother—in the identification of the remains.